As early as 1831 the President conceived the idea of issuing a
farewell address to the people upon the eve of his retirement; and a
few weeks before the election of Van Buren he sent to Taney a list of
subjects which he proposed to touch upon in the document, requesting
him to "throw on paper" his ideas concerning them. The address was
issued on March 4, 1837, and followed closely the copy subsequently
found in Taney's hand writing in the Jackson manuscripts. Its contents
were thoroughly commonplace, being indeed hardly more than a resume of
the eight annual messages; and it might well have been dismissed as
the amiable musings of a garrulous old man. But nothing associated
with the name of Jackson ever failed to stir controversy. The Whigs
ridiculed the egotism which underlay the palpable imitation of
Washington. "Happily," said the New York _American_, "it is the last
humbug which the mischievous popularity of this illiterate, violent,
vain, and iron-willed soldier can impose upon a confiding and
credulous people." The Democrats, however, lauded the address, praised
the wisdom and sincerity of its author, and laid away among their most
valued mementoes the white satin copies which admiring friends
scattered broadcast over the country.
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